http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2009/03/mysteries-of-singlish.html
Monday, March 23, 2009
<!-- Begin .post --> The mysteries of Singlish.
Singlish is the version of English current among most Singaporeans. It is the result of the influence of Chinese and other languages in Singapore on English - and the result is not pretty, to an international ear. Yet, there is great resistance, among many Singaporeans, to adopting a more internationalized version of English.
I think Singaporeans are unaware of how unintelligible Singlish actually is, to foreigners. This is where the problem lies: to them it is a perfectly comprehensible language. What they don't realize is that no-one outside of Singapore, Malaysia and Batam is likely to understand them. I will give you some examples to allow you to understand the problem.
There was a poster campaign some while back, when the government (briefly) promoted better English. These examples are taken from those posters, with official translations.
What does: "Got people sit one.", mean? Please have a good think about it.
Have you any idea, yet? No? Well, I will let you know, soon.
"Got people sit one" means: "Sorry this seat is taken" (or that would be what an English person would say in the same circumstances: I don't believe there is a "sorry" in the Singlish version.)
How about: "Like that also can, ah?" Have a think about it.
This is a phrase I have heard quite a few times.
"Like that also can, ah?" means: "How can this be acceptable?"
How about: "Die, die, must finish." Please think about it.
I, too, have heard this one and thought it rather strange.
"Die, die, must finish" means "We must finish this."
Singlish, at its best, is an impenetrable language to outside speakers of English. I have found myself completely unable to understand supposedly intelligent middle-aged Singaporeans, in business, when they spoke Singlish. No information was communicated by them, at all. Words were spoken, which were recognizable individually, but together meant nothing at all.
Singlish is a problem for Singapore, but it is a problem which is not really acknowledged. The campaign to speak better English failed, because there was no resolve among the people to speak better and because I don't think they have any examples of good speech to learn from (many politicians, for instance, speak noticeably badly). The campaign quietly went away - at least, nothing much has been heard from them, for some time.
Singlish is not just a spoken problem, it is a written problem. There are sites on the internet, written by Singaporeans, that are incomprehensible to a native speaker of English. This, of course, limits the reach of communication of Singaporeans to those who grew on up on this small island.
There is even resistance to adopting international standards of English, at the governmental level. I was once employed, for instance, to assist a Singaporean government department on the language use on a website - and there was resistance, from some of the government employees, to accept my corrections of their language. They argued that most of the readers of the site would be Singaporeans so the language should be what Singaporeans expect, irrespective of what correct usage would be. I found their view at odds with that expressed by other government departments on the language issue. It seems there is not even unity at the top, on the issue of the quality of language use in Singapore. There is not, therefore, much hope of change on the ground.
The funny thing about Singlish and its Singaporean speakers, is that I have sometimes found native Singaporeans correcting my language use, from standard English to Singlish...and being most insistent that I am wrong! (One memorable shop assistant said to me: "Why you speak slang, ah?") That this should happen indicates that not only are many Singaporeans not speakers of standard English - but that they do not even recognize it when they hear it. They are, therefore, not conversant in English but what amounts to a localized dialect of it.
Singapore is not, in short, an English speaking country, it is a Singlish speaking country with some English speakers in it (those whose English has, perhaps, benefitted from overseas exposure).
For non-Singaporeans only: were you able to work out the correct meanings of the Singlish samples I gave? What did you think they meant? Comments please - but no comments from Singlish speakers who would have known the answers, please. Thanks.
(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.
We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.
This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)Labels: an overseas view of Singapore, Singlish, speak good english movement
Monday, March 23, 2009
<!-- Begin .post --> The mysteries of Singlish.
Singlish is the version of English current among most Singaporeans. It is the result of the influence of Chinese and other languages in Singapore on English - and the result is not pretty, to an international ear. Yet, there is great resistance, among many Singaporeans, to adopting a more internationalized version of English.
I think Singaporeans are unaware of how unintelligible Singlish actually is, to foreigners. This is where the problem lies: to them it is a perfectly comprehensible language. What they don't realize is that no-one outside of Singapore, Malaysia and Batam is likely to understand them. I will give you some examples to allow you to understand the problem.
There was a poster campaign some while back, when the government (briefly) promoted better English. These examples are taken from those posters, with official translations.
What does: "Got people sit one.", mean? Please have a good think about it.
Have you any idea, yet? No? Well, I will let you know, soon.
"Got people sit one" means: "Sorry this seat is taken" (or that would be what an English person would say in the same circumstances: I don't believe there is a "sorry" in the Singlish version.)
How about: "Like that also can, ah?" Have a think about it.
This is a phrase I have heard quite a few times.
"Like that also can, ah?" means: "How can this be acceptable?"
How about: "Die, die, must finish." Please think about it.
I, too, have heard this one and thought it rather strange.
"Die, die, must finish" means "We must finish this."
Singlish, at its best, is an impenetrable language to outside speakers of English. I have found myself completely unable to understand supposedly intelligent middle-aged Singaporeans, in business, when they spoke Singlish. No information was communicated by them, at all. Words were spoken, which were recognizable individually, but together meant nothing at all.
Singlish is a problem for Singapore, but it is a problem which is not really acknowledged. The campaign to speak better English failed, because there was no resolve among the people to speak better and because I don't think they have any examples of good speech to learn from (many politicians, for instance, speak noticeably badly). The campaign quietly went away - at least, nothing much has been heard from them, for some time.
Singlish is not just a spoken problem, it is a written problem. There are sites on the internet, written by Singaporeans, that are incomprehensible to a native speaker of English. This, of course, limits the reach of communication of Singaporeans to those who grew on up on this small island.
There is even resistance to adopting international standards of English, at the governmental level. I was once employed, for instance, to assist a Singaporean government department on the language use on a website - and there was resistance, from some of the government employees, to accept my corrections of their language. They argued that most of the readers of the site would be Singaporeans so the language should be what Singaporeans expect, irrespective of what correct usage would be. I found their view at odds with that expressed by other government departments on the language issue. It seems there is not even unity at the top, on the issue of the quality of language use in Singapore. There is not, therefore, much hope of change on the ground.
The funny thing about Singlish and its Singaporean speakers, is that I have sometimes found native Singaporeans correcting my language use, from standard English to Singlish...and being most insistent that I am wrong! (One memorable shop assistant said to me: "Why you speak slang, ah?") That this should happen indicates that not only are many Singaporeans not speakers of standard English - but that they do not even recognize it when they hear it. They are, therefore, not conversant in English but what amounts to a localized dialect of it.
Singapore is not, in short, an English speaking country, it is a Singlish speaking country with some English speakers in it (those whose English has, perhaps, benefitted from overseas exposure).
For non-Singaporeans only: were you able to work out the correct meanings of the Singlish samples I gave? What did you think they meant? Comments please - but no comments from Singlish speakers who would have known the answers, please. Thanks.
(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.
We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.
This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)Labels: an overseas view of Singapore, Singlish, speak good english movement
